Nicholas Crane
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Crane is an English
geographer
, explorer
, writer
and broadcaster. Since 2004, he has written and presented four notable television series for BBC Two
: Coast
, Great British Journeys, Map Man
and Town
.
, East Sussex
, but grew up in Norfolk
. He attended Wymondham College
from 1967 until 1972, then Cambridgeshire College of Arts & Technology (CCAT), a forerunner to Anglia Ruskin University
, where he studied geography
.
In his youth, he went camping and hiking with his father, and explored Norfolk by bicycle, which gave him his enthusiasm for exploration.
for the Eurasia
landmass travelling with his cousin Richard; their journey being the subject of the book Journey to the Centre of the Earth. In 1992-3, he embarked on an 18-month solo journey, walking 10000 kilometres from Cape Finisterre
to Istanbul
. He recounted the trip in his book Clear Waters Rising: A Mountain Walk Across Europe which won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award
in 1997, and made a television self-documentary of the journey: High Trails to Istanbul (1994).
His 2000 book, Two Degrees West, described his walk across Great Britain
in which he followed the eponymous meridian
as closely as possible. More recently he published a biography of Gerard Mercator, the great Flemish
cartographer.
Together with Richard Crane, he was awarded the 1992 Mungo Park Medal
by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society
for his journeys in Tibet
, China
, Afghanistan
and Africa
.
In 2007, he completed a series called 'Great British Journeys'. The series, in 8 parts consisted
of 8 people who explored Great Britain and made a contribution to society from the exploration.
each episode lasts for 1 hour. The Explorers are:
In November 2007 he debated the future of the English countryside with Richard Girling
, Sue Clifford
, Richard Mabey
and Bill Bryson
as part of CPRE's annual Volunteers Conference.
He began a programme on English towns in August 2011. The edition broadcast on 18 August was on Totnes
.
, in north-west London
, and have three children.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
geographer
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, explorer
Exploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and broadcaster. Since 2004, he has written and presented four notable television series for BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
: Coast
Coast (TV series)
Coast is a BBC documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two television in 2005. A second series started on 26 October 2006, a third in early 2007 and a fourth in mid-2009...
, Great British Journeys, Map Man
Map Man
Map Man is a BBC documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two in 2004. Each episode recounts a particular tale in the history of British cartography, with a particular emphasis on the individuals whose dedication and ingenuity led to the production of some of history's most ground-breaking...
and Town
TOWN with Nicholas Crane
TOWN with Nicholas Crane is a BBC documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two television in 2011. It covers various subjects about the history and development of four towns across Britain. The series is presented by presenter and geographer Nicholas Crane...
.
Early life and education
Crane was born in HastingsHastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
, East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
, but grew up in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. He attended Wymondham College
Wymondham College
Wymondham College is a state boarding school, located in Norfolk, England, which was the largest in Europe when it opened in 1951.-Admissions:...
from 1967 until 1972, then Cambridgeshire College of Arts & Technology (CCAT), a forerunner to Anglia Ruskin University
Anglia Ruskin University
Anglia Ruskin University is one of the largest universities in Eastern England, United Kingdom, with a total student population of around 30,000.-History:...
, where he studied geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
.
In his youth, he went camping and hiking with his father, and explored Norfolk by bicycle, which gave him his enthusiasm for exploration.
Career
In 1986, he located the pole of inaccessibilityPole of inaccessibility
A pole of inaccessibility marks a location that is the most challenging to reach owing to its remoteness from geographical features that could provide access...
for the Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
landmass travelling with his cousin Richard; their journey being the subject of the book Journey to the Centre of the Earth. In 1992-3, he embarked on an 18-month solo journey, walking 10000 kilometres from Cape Finisterre
Cape Finisterre
right|thumb|300px|Position of Cape Finisterre on the [[Iberian Peninsula]]Cape Finisterre is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia, Spain....
to Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. He recounted the trip in his book Clear Waters Rising: A Mountain Walk Across Europe which won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award
Thomas Cook Travel Book Award
The Thomas Cook Travel Book Award originated as an initiative of Thomas Cook AG in 1980, with the aim of encouraging and rewarding the art of literary travel writing. The awards stopped in 2005...
in 1997, and made a television self-documentary of the journey: High Trails to Istanbul (1994).
His 2000 book, Two Degrees West, described his walk across Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
in which he followed the eponymous meridian
Meridian (geography)
A meridian is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface from the North Pole to the South Pole that connects all locations along it with a given longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by its latitude. Each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude...
as closely as possible. More recently he published a biography of Gerard Mercator, the great Flemish
Flemish people
The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...
cartographer.
Together with Richard Crane, he was awarded the 1992 Mungo Park Medal
Mungo Park Medal
The Mungo Park Medal is awarded by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in recognition of outstanding contributions to geographical knowledge through exploration and/or research, and/or work of a practical nature of benefit to humanity in potentially hazardous physical and/or social...
by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society
Royal Scottish Geographical Society
The Royal Scottish Geographical Society is a learned society founded in 1884 and based in Perth. The Society has a membership of 2500 and aims to advance the science of geography worldwide by supporting education, research, expeditions, through its journal , its newsletter and other publications...
for his journeys in Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
In 2007, he completed a series called 'Great British Journeys'. The series, in 8 parts consisted
of 8 people who explored Great Britain and made a contribution to society from the exploration.
each episode lasts for 1 hour. The Explorers are:
- Thomas PennantThomas PennantThomas Pennant was a Welsh naturalist and antiquary.The Pennants were a Welsh gentry family from the parish of Whitford, Flintshire, who had built up a modest estate at Bychton by the seventeenth century...
(clergyman) - William Gilpin
- Celia FiennesCelia FiennesCelia Fiennes was an English traveller. Born in Wiltshire, she was the daughter of an English Civil War Parliamentarian Colonel, who was in turn the second son of the William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele. Celia Fiennes died in Hackney in 1741.-Pioneering Female Traveller:Fiennes never married...
- William CobbettWilliam CobbettWilliam Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly...
- Gerald of Wales
- Daniel DefoeDaniel DefoeDaniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
- John Leland
- H.V. Morton
In November 2007 he debated the future of the English countryside with Richard Girling
Richard Girling
Richard Girling is a feature writer for The Sunday Times Magazine. Girling was named Specialist Writer of the Year at the 2002 UK Press Awards. He has been a consultant to the former Department of the Environment and Department for Culture Media and Sport...
, Sue Clifford
Sue Clifford
Sue Clifford co-founded Common Ground, an organisation which campaigns to link nature with culture and the positive investment people can make in their own localities, with Angela King in 1983....
, Richard Mabey
Richard Mabey
Richard Mabey is a naturalist and author.He has been called by The Times 'Britain's greatest living nature writer'. Among his acclaimed publications are Food for Free, The Unofficial Countryside and The Common Ground, as well as his study of the nightingale, Whistling in the Dark...
and Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson
William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science. Born an American, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before moving back to the US in 1995...
as part of CPRE's annual Volunteers Conference.
He began a programme on English towns in August 2011. The edition broadcast on 18 August was on Totnes
Totnes
Totnes is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
.
Personal life
He married Annabel Huxley in 1991. They live in Chalk FarmChalk Farm
Chalk Farm is an area of north London, England. It lies directly to the north of Camden Town and its underground station is the closest tube station to the nearby, upmarket neighbourhood of Primrose Hill....
, in north-west London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and have three children.
Books
- The CTC Route Guide to Cycling in Britain and Ireland (with Christa Gausden, 1980)
- Cycling Guide (Tantivy Press, annually 1980-86)
- Cycling in Europe (1984)
- Bicycles Up Kilimanjaro (with Richard Crane, 1985)
- Journey to the Centre of the Earth (with Richard Crane, 1987)
- Nick Crane's Action Sports (1989)
- Atlas Biker: Cycling in Morocco. O.U.P. (1990)
- Clear Waters Rising: A Mountain Walk Across Europe (1996)
- Two Degrees West: An English Journey (2000)
- Mercator: The Man Who Mapped the Planet (2003)
- Great British Journeys (2007)
- Coast A Journey around our Shores (2010)
Television
- Now Get Out of That - as a contestant representing Oxford, 1982
- High Trails to Istanbul (1994)
- Map ManMap ManMap Man is a BBC documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two in 2004. Each episode recounts a particular tale in the history of British cartography, with a particular emphasis on the individuals whose dedication and ingenuity led to the production of some of history's most ground-breaking...
(8x30m, 2004 and 8x30m, 2005) - CoastCoast (TV series)Coast is a BBC documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two television in 2005. A second series started on 26 October 2006, a third in early 2007 and a fourth in mid-2009...
(as main presenter, 13x60m, 2005 and as regular contributor 2006 to present) - Great British Journeys (8x60m, 2007)
- Nicholas Crane's Britannia: The Great Elizabethan Journey (3x60m, 2009)
- In Search of England’s Green and Pleasant Land: East (30m, 2009) Broadcast 5th June 2009 7.30pm BBC4
- Munro: Mountain Man (60m, 2009) Broadcast 20th September 9pm BBC4
- TOWN with Nicholas CraneTOWN with Nicholas CraneTOWN with Nicholas Crane is a BBC documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two television in 2011. It covers various subjects about the history and development of four towns across Britain. The series is presented by presenter and geographer Nicholas Crane...
(4x60m, 2011)